Tea Partiers Blame McConnell For Judge Advancing Gay Marriage In KY

The Senate Conservatives Fund released a new radio ad Tuesday attacking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for recommending a federal judge that recently ruled Kentucky must recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

The ad features a man and woman discussing McConnell's association to U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II, who made the ruling. McConnell recommended Heyburn to the federal bench in 1992.

Here's part of the exchange:

Man: Who recommended this liberal judge?
Woman: Mitch McConnell.

Man: Really?

Woman: Uh-huh. Mitch McConnell called Heyburn an "excellent judicial appointment" and praised him for being “progressive.”

Woman: Political cronyism. Heyburn donated money to McConnell and served as a county chairman for his campaign.

The ad will run statewide starting Tuesday. SCF is spending $29,130 on the ad. The ad was released the same day that Kentucky's attorney general said he would not appeal Heyburn's order to recognize same-sex marriages from other states. McConnell's tea party primary challenger, Matt Bevin, has also attacked the top Senate Republican on Heyburn.

McConnell's campaign brushed off the ad as something supporters of a struggling candidate would support. The Senate Conservatives Fund has endorsed Bevin's Senate campaign.

"This is the kind of ad voters expect to hear from people who are days away from boxing up their personal effects and auctioning off the remaining printer cartridges in the office," McConnell spokeswoman Allison Moore said in a statement to TPM. "It is so absurd and pathetic that they ought to stop troubling radio listeners with the obligation of switching stations and admit they have no justification to attack Senator McConnell."